Your Garmin Nuvi has the ability to mark points of interest on the map display, to make sure that landmarks or intermediate destinations aren't missed. Think of these as the GPS equivalent of a browser bookmark. The procedure for marking a waypoint with a Garmin Nuvi is fairly simple. One of the other features of the Nuvi line is the ability to make custom symbols for your waypoints as an added bit of personalization.
Creating the Custom Symbol
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Step 1
Download and install Garmin's xImage software from the company website. In addition to making custom icons for your Garmin Nuvi, it also allows you to take screen captures of the Garmin's screen.
Step 2
Plug your Garmin Nuvi into your computer via the USB port.
Step 3
Launch xImage. The initial dialog box asks if you want to download an image from the GPS device or upload one to it. You will be downloading one of the existing images and modifying it into a custom waypoint symbol, then putting the modified image back on to the GPS.
Step 4
Select 'Get Images From The GPS.' Then click 'Next.' The dialog box changes.
Step 5
Select 'Waypoint Symbol' on the dropdown menu. The dialog box displays a list of all the waypoint symbols on your GPS.
Step 6
Select the waypoint symbol you want to modify. You can select multiple images by holding down the 'Shift' or 'Ctrl' key while selecting multiple file names. Click 'Next' after you've selected the image you want to modify to open a 'save file' dialog box. It's important that you do not change the file name. The file will be a 256-color indexed BMP file.
Step 7
Open the file in your image-editing program of choice. The file will be an 8-bit-per-pixel, 16-by-16-pixel bitmap.
Step 8
Alter the image as desired. Make sure that you have your program set to 'Indexed Color.' The transparent background color is purple (R 255, G 0, B 255) in indexed colors – anything that's exactly that color will not show up on the icon. This can be useful for making icons that have a cut-out effect.
Step 9
Save the edited icon as a BMP file. Make sure that you don't enable any RLE compression.
Step 10
Open the edited BMP file in Microsoft Paint. Verify that the image is still at 96 DPI in Paint and save it as an 8-bit color image. Do not change the name of the image. Many newer programs save only 24-bit color bitmaps, which causes xImage to refuse to upload the image to the GPS device. Microsoft Paint still saves 8-bit images.
Start xImage again or switch back to it if you haven't turned it off and select 'Send Images To GPS.' When prompted, navigate to the edited image you saved. Provided the images are identically sized and formatted, and the name matches the image you want to replace, xImage will replace that image on the GPS unit.
Using the Custom Symbol
Step 1
Turn on your Garmin Nuvi. The Graphical Map will load.
Step 2
Step 3
Click the desired location on the graphical map. Alternately, you can use the 'Find' feature, and click the 'Make Waypoint' feature in the 'Find' window. Both methods bring up the 'Waypoint Properties' dialog on your GPS unit.
Enter the desired waypoint properties on the selected location. One of the options will be to select an icon for this waypoint. Select the customized icon you created in the first section.
Warning
- Some older models of Garmin Nuvi don't work with xImage; the download page for xImage is dated 2005. If your Garmin is more recent than that, it should work.
Items you will need
- USB cable
- Image-editing software
- Microsoft Paint
- Sean Gallup/Getty Images News/Getty Images
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Using a Garmin personal GPS navigation device gives you access to a range of free and paid electronic maps, from basic navigation maps to specialist topographical maps that can help you assess the elevation of a hike, trail or individual waypoints along the route. After creating a navigation waypoint on the Garmin device, you can transfer it to the Garmin BaseCamp program on your computer so that you have a record of the waypoint . To transfer waypoints, connect the Garmin personal navigator or mobile device to the BaseCamp app on your PC via the supplied USB cable and drag and drop the waypoint from the device to the BaseCamp program. The system also works the other way, allowing you to transfer waypoints created in the BaseCamp program on your computer to your navigation device.
Transfer a Waypoint From the Navigation Device
Step 1
Connect the Garmin personal navigator or mobile device to your computer with the supplied USB cable.
Step 2
Step 3
Click the name of your Garmin device or smartphone under 'Devices' in the bottom left menu pane.
Step 4
Scroll through the list of saved items, including routes, trails and individual waypoints.
Step 5
My file recovery with crack. Click to select the waypoint that you want to transfer.
Step 6
Drag and drop the waypoint to any list in the 'My Collection' pane in the top left of the screen. To create a new list for the waypoint, click 'New' followed by 'List' in the main menu and then enter a name for the list.
Wait a few seconds for BaseCamp to transfer the waypoint.
Transfer a Waypoint To the Navigation Device
Step 1
Connect the Garmin device or mobile device to your computer.
Step 2
Step 3
Click to select the waypoint that you want to transfer. The waypoint willl either appear as part of a list or individually under the 'My Collection' folder in the top left menu pane.
Drag and drop the waypoint on your Garmin device or mobile device listed under 'Devices' in the bottom left menu pane.
Tip
- To transfer an entire list of items on the device or in the 'My Collection' library on your computer, right-click the list and select 'Send to' to send the entire list to the device or your collection.
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